This invention relates to systems used to seal one end of a plastic tube that may be used to hold fluid products such as tooth paste, creams, lotions, grease and the like. The plastic tube may have a mouth end with a threaded cap or other closure element. The new system may have a tube sealing apparatus with various electronic sensing and control elements and may be combined with a tube seal and wall strength test apparatus.
Systems that may be used to fill flexible plastic tubes through an open end with a fluid product and then seal the open end may be currently known. These systems for high volume production may have a tube conveyor on which the tube open end may be oriented upwardly to receive product from a dispensing device. The tube may then be conveyed to a heating device such as a hot air blower to heat the plastic to a selected temperature approximately the melting point of the plastic and then be conveyed to a jaw clamping device to press or crimp the open end plastic wall together to heat seal the open end.
While this may be considered a relatively simple process, various parameters associated with plastic tubes, for example, thickness of walls or other dimensions, and plastic composition that may affect the melt flow index, may affect the quality of the tube heat seal. Currently known methods for producing product filled plastic tubes may not incorporate testing methods and apparatus to test plastic tubes to ensure the tubes will be properly sealed in production to avoid failure of the seal or the wall of a tube when delivered to the consumer.